Tutorial - How to create old books

posted by Oli, Honourguard, silver leaf

How to create old books:
Needed materials:
-super glue

-an old book (normal paper will do it too I think)

-black photo background paper

-Cutter

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We start with making the volume of the book. Take the photo black photo background paper and cutting a piece of it. You can make it with the measurements you want, I had ca. 0.8 x 2.2 mm. The only thing that is important is that they are rectangular.




Then we have to form it. Bend it carefully in the middle, until it look like on the following picture.

The pages I did with the pages of a real book, from my childhood, which I will never need again I think :P You can also make this with normal paper but it will need more time to get every single page in the same size. Now hold the black paper from the step before on the book for checking how wide it must be. It should be a little bit shorter then the volume of the book. I know one side is too long now, but that isn't a problem. We cut this side after checking how long the pages should be (second following picutre, no super glue right now!).


Now we cut the unequal site with a normal cutter. After that we put some super glue on one side ( you can take a tooth pick for help) and put the pages in the volume of the book. Press them behind, but be carefully with your power :P


After that you have to decide if you want a close or an open book. If you want an open book, you have to bend it, like you can see on the following picture.

For get a more wasted look on the book, mix some brown with water and paint it just on the pages. Use not to much colour. I don't use real* colour for the pages, because then the result looks like on big ugly page, not many..



Glue the book on a cork now, for paint it easier. Take care, just a little bit of super glue, and put it on the side, which gonna be directly on the base later, too. Take a tooth pick for help. I started paint the surface black, paint just the black photo paper.


Then I blended up this surface like on a miniature. After that I added some fine white/grey (use colour mixed with water again) lines on the surface, for get a rough surface look.

Now paint the edges with a mixture of grey/white. And start painting the freehand or other fine line on the book. I also added some scratches on the side of the book. And some green ink in the shadows of my black. The best in painting a black surface with a white freehand is, you can paint above mistake easy. And the book is very, very old, so it's no problem if the freehand is not that clean, because over time, some colour got lost .. :)
I saw the symbols in internet, by tipping, celtic.. gothic or something like that^^


At least this is just one possibility how we can make books in miniature size. Try it out :D
This is my first tutorial of all time, hope you understood it and maybe somebody test it in the future :D